Matthew 21
JESUS
Comes to Jerusalem as King
“As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the
Mount of Olives, JESUS
sent two disciples,
2 saying to them, ‘Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a
donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to ME.
3 If anyone says anything to you, say that THE LORD needs them,
and he will send them right away.”
4 This took place to
fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 ‘Say to Daughter Zion,
‘See, YOUR KING comes to you,
GENTLE and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a
donkey.’
6 The disciples went and did as JESUS had instructed them.
7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on
them for JESUS
to sit on.
8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while
others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9 The crowds that went ahead of HIM and those that followed shouted,
‘Hosanna
to THE SON OF
DAVID!’
‘BLESSED
is HE WHO comes in the name of THE LORD!’
‘Hosanna in the highest heaven!’
10 When JESUS
entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?’
11 The crowds answered, ‘This is JESUS, THE PROPHET
FROM NAZARETH IN GALILEE.’
JESUS at the Temple
12 JESUS
entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling
there. HE overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of
those selling doves.
13 ‘It is written,’ HE said to them, ‘MY house will be called a house of prayer,’
but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’
14 The blind and the lame came to HIM
at the temple, and HE healed them.
15 But when the chief priests and the
teachers of the law saw the wonderful things HE did and the children shouting
in the temple courts, ‘Hosanna to THE SON OF DAVID,’ they were indignant.
16 ‘Do you hear what these children
are saying?’ they asked HIM.
‘Yes,’ replied
JESUS, ‘have you never read,
‘From the lips of children and infants
YOU, LORD, have called forth YOUR praise’?’
17 And HE left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where HE
spent the night.
JESUS Curses a Fig Tree
18 Early in the morning, as JESUS was on HIS way
back to the city, HE was hungry.
19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, HE
went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then HE said to it, ‘May you never bear fruit again!’ Immediately the tree
withered.
20 When the disciples saw this, they
were amazed. ‘How did the fig tree wither so quickly?’ they asked.
21 JESUS
replied, ‘Truly
I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what
was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw
yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.
22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask
for in prayer.’
The Authority of JESUS Questioned
23 JESUS
entered the temple courts, and, while HE was teaching, the chief priests and
the elders of the people came to HIM. ‘By what authority are you doing
these things?’ they asked. ‘And who gave YOU this authority?’
24 JESUS
replied, ‘I
will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what
authority I am doing these things.
25 John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from
heaven, or of human origin?’
They discussed it among themselves and said, ‘If we say, ‘From
heaven,’ HE will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’
26 But if we say, ‘Of human
origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.’
27 So they answered JESUS, ‘We don’t
know.’
Then HE said, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these
things.
The Parable of the Two Sons
28 ‘What do you think? There was a man who had two sons.
He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
29 ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his
mind and went.
30 ‘Then the father went to the other son and said the
same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
31 ‘Which of the two did what his father wanted?’
‘The first,’ they answered.
JESUS said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the
prostitutes are entering the kingdom of GOD ahead of you.
32 For John came to you to show you THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, and
you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the
prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and
believe him.
The Parable of the Tenants
33 ‘Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who
planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and
built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved
to another place.
34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his
servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
35 ‘The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed
another, and stoned a third.
36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the
first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.
37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will
respect my son,’ he said.
38 ‘But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each
other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his
inheritance.’
39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and
killed him.
40 ‘Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what
will he do to those tenants?’
41 ‘He will bring those wretches to a
wretched end,’ they replied, ‘and he will rent the vineyard to other
tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.’
42 JESUS said
to them, ‘Have
you never read in the Scriptures:
‘THE STONE THE BUILDERS
REJECTED
has become THE CORNERSTONE;
THE
LORD has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 ‘Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of GOD will be taken
away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
44 Anyone who falls on THIS STONE will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom IT falls will be crushed.’
